My Brandy Boy Hybrid Tomatoes

I have probably mentioned these tomatoes before.

They are my big tomatoes (compared to my cherry tomatoes) and they have a slight problem with something called Cat Facing.

I have 4 of them currently and though I can't use them for slicing, I can use them for salsa...and so I did.

They are called Brandy Boy Hybrid Tomatoes and they are full of meat and very little liquid. We will see how the sala comes out, using them.

See the green areas. This tomato ripens at different times.

They are definitely big tomatoes.

Welcome New Great Nephew

Back in October of last year, in the midst of a Pandemic...my Nephew and his fiancée got married. I wrote about it HERE.

Yesterday, just 9 months and a few days later, I got the message that the latest member of our family has arrived.

I don't have official word on his name or anything, but I am so happy for them both.

I believe they have a dog and a cat and this really rounds things out.

Welcome new little member of my family. I can't wait to see you.

The Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse In Macinaw City

When we drove to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, we stayed at Macinaw City.

Across the street from our hotel (chosen just for that reason) is the old settlement and the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

The description from the website: A point in the storm and a guiding beacon since 1889, Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse helped passing ships navigate through the treacherous waters of the Straits of Mackinac. Authentically restored quarters and exhibits, including the original lens, a chance to explore the second floor of the house, tours of the lighthouse tower, a movie, Shipwrecks of the Straits, and the Straits of Mackinac Shipwreck Museum make this “Castle of the Straits” a true gem of the Great Lakes.

We did not have time to tour the buildings, but we did spend several hours watching the sunset from the beach. If you are ever in the area, it is highly recommended.

Cloverland Electric Hydroelectric Plant

On our tour of the Soo Locks, we passed this hydroelectric plant. I just want to state for the record that the plant is over a quarter of a mile long. It is HUGE!

You can also see better images on their website HERE.

This front (first photo) is in the center of the building. The second photo is one of the sides of the building.

There is one on each side of the center.

The building was put into service in 1902 and its most arresting feature are the columns you see in the second photo.

Look close, because they are: Lighthouses made of bricks!

How cool is that?

It amazes me that this one plant uses the water level change between Lake Huron and Lake Superior to generate a massive amount of electricity with its 74 turbines.

They were not doing tours, from what we heard, but it would have been worth seeing.

Needles, CA

We passed through Needles, just 2 weeks ago.

Minus the Colorado River, we didn't think much of it.

Shortly thereafter, the Los Angeles Times printed an ARTICLE about the city and the fact that 3 out of their 4 wells were closed down for problems meeting State water quality standards.

I think it hit me harder, because I had just been there!

The photos in the article are so beautiful and the writing is so sad.

I hope someone steps up and drills another well, before it's too late.

On The Waterway

My Water Post For Today.

We had several boat tours cruising around our area of the Soo Locks, in Michigan.

This one was coming back to dock, when I took this photo. You are looking at the Canadian side of the river, by the way.

It could have been the 3PM tour coming in, though I am not sure. It may have been a different company, but I think it was ours.

The water was calm and beautiful. I am just sad that it was not a bit more sunny.

I hope you enjoy.

An Exhausted Cat

This was my cat, Makenna, Friday night. Totally dead to the world.

She is not usually this far gone, so early in the late evening (around 9:30PM).

What she seems to be doing is sleeping early in the evening and then keeping a watch out through the sliding glass door. At least that is what I see when I wake up at 1AM or so.

I don't know what she is looking for. We have had no problems with gophers or raccoons for several months.

Is it the Full Moon perhaps?

The Full Buck Moon Arrives

The Full Buck Moon has arrived.

I thought it looked so wonderful with just the tiniest amount of clouds around it.

This was actually taken just before midnight on Thursday, so technically slightly early.

I am sure the Werewolf would approve of the timing, since it needs to be full for him to turn. :-)

In case you care, it will became full at 7:37PM PDT Friday Night.

Sittin' In A Lock

Here is a photo my husband took of my Son and I waiting for the water to finish filling our lock at the Soo Locks. That is the gate of lock #2 in the background. It is named the Poe Lock. It is the largest of the 4 US Locks and the largest freighters can only use that one to get through to Lake Superior. MacArthur is Lock #1 and is also used for large and midsize ships.

From Wikipedia: "A new lock is currently under construction and is slated to be completed by 2030. Groundbreaking for the new lock project was held on June 30, 2009. The lock will be equal in size to the Poe Lock and will provide much needed additional capacity for the large lake freighters. The new lock replaces two locks (Davis Lock and Sabin Lock) which were obsolete and used infrequently. In May 2020, construction on Phase One of the replacement of the Sabin Lock was started."

We could see the construction, off to the right side of the boat.

BTW, there was a bit of a backlog of ships, as we approached the lock complex, so we locked through with a freighter, as I mentioned in THIS post.

It was lots of fun and we were glad it only drizzled for a few moments. Otherwise, end of the day cloudy out.

Ice T Got Hit On His Head

Last year, during Covid, my Magic Son did a weeklong shoot in the NY/NJ area. One of the commercials was at Met Life Field. Another one was shot on a street in Jersey.

We heard the story of that part of the shoot, shortly after he returned to LA.

My Magic Son was holding the boom mic above the head of Ice T and by mistake it hit the actor on the head.

My Son apologized and Ice T told him he thought a bird had zoomed by him.

All's well. The commercial came out fine and I saw it the other day. No boom mic in sight.

Corn Country!

This photo was taken from the bus, as we drove through the corn fields of Illinois.

It was getting toward evening and so the tassels of the corn really show up in their yellow splendor.

Most of the corn we saw in other areas were younger and had no tassels. I assume they were planted late in the growing season.

When people refer to the Corn Belt, they are not kidding. It was growing in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Kansas.

They are a beautiful crop to see growing.

Eggplant From My Garden

I showed off one of my eggplants on Facebook the other day.

I waited until it matched the one I picked on Monday and it ended up that they were both the exact same size. One cold from the fridge and the other hot due to the mid-day sun.

I immediately cut both up and started the liquid removal process, while I Zoomed with my family.

I had an extremely large tomato from my big tomato plant and I cut it up and along with some cherry tomatoes, I made a sauce with a can of puree.

I have not made eggplant in a while, but I don't forget how to do it.

I used very thin sliced Provolone Cheese that we just happened to buy on Friday instead of some string cheese I had in the house made from Mozzarella.

As one would expect from an Italian, it came out great!

A different dinner entrée, for once.

The Beach At Whitefish Point

My Water Post For Today.

This is the beach at Whitefish Point, on Lake Superior.

There is lots of driftwood hanging out on the shore and I am not sure if it washes up, or if the museum puts it out there for "atmosphere".

No matter what, that is the location where ships went to be protected during the November storm that took the Edmund Fitzgerald.

A lot of history here. I hope you enjoy.

The four Of Us

This photo was taken by my Husband on a day I managed to have our cat in my arms, so that my Son could see her.

It is the only time the 4 of us managed to be together on a Facebook Messenger session. Brief though it was.

One of the coolest things about this photo is that it shows off the 3 frames I bought for the paintings on their wall.

As an artist of those paintings, I hated the fact that the hung on the wall as just a canvas.

It looks so unprofessional.

Oh and ignore the mess. :-)

Fishers Peak, Trinidad, Colorado

On our way to the Raton Pass, we passed a very noticible mountain peak. Being it could be seen for miles in each direction, I assumed it was the directional marker for the passengers who were traveling (via wagon train) on the Santa Fe Trail, back in the 1800's.

It was pretty impressive on our way north, but it was even more stunning as we approached it from Colorado, traveling south.

It is called Fishers Peak and Colorado is where it is located.

Of all the Country we traversed, The Raton Pass area is the best.

More on that, another time.

Air Zoo In Kalamazoo, MI

Since we lost our day on Mackinac Island, we had Thursday free.

Weather forecast was not too bad, especially later in the day and so off we went to Kalamazoo, Michigan and the Air Zoo.

They had a new aircraft that had arrived a few months ago and my Son wanted to see it. Here is what that is all about. "In December 2020, the Air Zoo was able to acquire a F-117A Nighthawk, tail number 85-0817 donated from the United States Air Force. This aircraft was the first stealth fighter to be donated to a non-governmental museum. Shaba is currently being restored to be put on display as it was when it flew during its tenure in the USAF."

When we got there, my Son told us he had been to the main building before so he left us to wander around and let our interests guide us.

It ended up being a good way to visit and I found several exhibits with female air leaders. They really did go to some effort to be inclusive with not only females, but people of color, etc. It was refreshing to see.

We watched a film on WWII together in a small theater. My first theater experience since COVID. Of course we were masked.

It was the first time I visited an air museum with a Midwest perspective and if you are in the area, I give a hearty recommendation.

Kansas City, Kansas: Via Bus

Yes, I look like hell in this photograph. It was a tough day for my Husband and I on Friday.

It all started when we arrived at Chicago's Union Station for our journey home to Los Angeles.

We went to the Metropolitan Lounge to get a comfortable seat and some potential snacks and drink and figure out what to have for lunch.

We were immediately told that we would be on a bus to Kansas City Kansas, instead of a train.

We had no idea why, but it was eventually revealed that there had been a major train derailmant just north of Kansas City in Marceline, Missouri (the birthplace of Walt Disney by the way).

You can read the story HERE.

We were not given any options, like taking the California Zephyr or the Texas Eagle. Both trains boarded within the hour we were sitting in the lounge.

We were also not told that we could have rebooked our trip to Saturday and not had to deal with the bus.

Instead, half an hour after our scheduled departure, we were almost the last 2 people loaded onto a bus and it drove off at 3:30PM.

Thankfully with some water and snack boxes. What we did not know is those snack boxes were not very nutritious and by around 7PM we really wanted some dinner.

That was not on their agenda we were lucky we got 2 bathroom breaks over the course of a 9 hour trip!

We reached Kansas City Kansas at 1AM, but they would not let us onto the train until after 2AM. There was a bus 3 hours behind ours (bet they got dinner before they left Chicago).

They boarded around 7AM and then we finally got to start our journey. It ended up being almost 11 hours later than scheduled, with the train meet of the Northbound Southwest Chief at the Raton Pass tunnel.

In good news for us, we finally got to see all of Kansas in the day time and so the delay was not a total loss. Nice state you have there, Kansas.

During the 4 segments of train travel, we ended up about 3 hours late on the first one, 3 hours late on the second one, 1 hour late on the third one and a whopping 11 hours late on that final one. In other words we lost almost an entire day due to delays on the trains.

I was not really upset with most of the delays, that is part of riding the train. What got me so upset was that the bus ride was masked and during Covid times. I had deliberately scheduled our journey to be as safe as possible and the bus was not.

Kevin Torres Doing Live Cut-In's For KTLA5

Oswego Grad and Journalist Kevin Torres was doing live cut-ins on different stations around the Country.

I happened to catch the 7:30AM report on KTLA5, Los Angeles Tuesday Morning.

I follow him on Facebook and have for years, so it was a joy to see a live report from him on my TV.

He had 17 of these reports on different stations and from what I understand, he was up at 2:30AM setting up for the 6AM reports in places like NYC on the East Coast. A very exhausting day, but quite a feather in his cap in regard to exposure around the Country.

Go Kevin, I am so proud of you.

Salsa

I came home to a large amount of cherry tomatoes.

I had to do something...and fast.

Salsa came to mind.

I picked a few Jalapeños, got a lime at the store and I was in business.

It came out OK, but I think I might tweek it a bit more next time.

It was a bit tart or acidy, though my Husband said it was OK.

HERE is the recipe I used.

Oh, it did get better on the second day (something I was told would happen) and with the addition of a little more salt.

Happy 41st Anniversary And The Colorado River (2021)

First order of business. Happy 41st Anniversary to the guy who just went through train hell with me. It was a rough journey home, but we made it and get to celebrate together today.

My Water Post For Today.

The mighty Colorado is the State Line between Arizona and California.

We knew it was coming and so we both got lots of photos of the water and the people who bring their boats out there in the middle of nowhere, to enjoy the river.

It was interesting to watch them in action.

But as my Son says, not my thing, nor mine.

I hope you enjoy.

Telstar (Not 401)

We went to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, MI on Thursday, our last day with our Son. We are on the AMTRAK, as this posts.

I will go into this in more depth at a later time, but for today I want to mention that I saw something that meant something special to me.

During my long career at KCET, we got most of our feeds via satellite. One of them was Telstar 401.

We lost 401 on Saturday January 11, 1997.

Imagine suddenly having no feeds coming in. It was a nightmare to live through.

We had one disaster back up channel and that we used until they got Telstar 402R going. It was the worst March Pledge ever!

This exhibit of the first Telstar, really brought back memories.

Soo Locks

After we visited the Shipwreck Museum, we drove east to the mouth of Lake Superior.

This is the place where all boats go to get between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Superior is 21 feet higher than Huron.

The Soo Locks are at Sault Ste Marie on the St. Mary River.

There are 4 American Locks and 1 Canadian Lock. We took a boat tour that locked through Lock number 2. We had a freighter on the first trip and then just another tour boat on the return trip. It was pretty cool.

The freighters were backed up and so we saw about 5 of them on our two lock journeys. One was Cinnamon.

We had a great time and were glad we took the time to swing over that way.

In the photo you are looking at the International Bridge to Canada, with the freighter Cinnamon.

Whitefish Point And The Edmund Fitzgerald

Last November the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum had an online tribute to the 45th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I wrote about it HERE.

At that time I decided that if I ever visited Michigan again, I would make time to go up there and see the bell that they have on display.

8 months later the stars aligned and we made the trip to see it.

Amazing to me, there was quite a group of people there in the middle of nowhere. I was shocked.

We looked around at the different buildings and then we saw the bell. Yes, the bell from the ship itself.

It meant so much to me to finally see it.

Spicer Orchards

On our second full day at Mackinaw City, we were going to eat breakfast and then take a ferry to Mackinac Island. Walk around the area and visit the Grand Hotel, where my Husband's Family honeymooned.

We woke up to a forecast of rain, rain and more rain. On top of 15 to 20 MPH winds.

We decided to bail on our journey and after breakfast, we started our 4 hour journey home to Novi, in the rain.

On the way we decided to make a stop at Spicer Orchards.

It is a place where my Son gets apple cider during the fall months. He loves it and I wanted to see it.

We almost got to the end of our roaming...and then we got to the fudge samples.

We are now the proud owners of Chocolate Cherry fudge and Dark Chocolate Caramel Toffee and Sea Salt fudge. The third fudge went to my Son for free.

Oh well, we gave in.

My Son and I picked up a bottle of wine, too. Mine is Pineapple Desert Apple. We will see how it is, when we get home.

A cool place that I highly recommend visiting, when in Michigan.

A Mini Vacation

We are into the mini-vacation of our vacation.

We decided to explore the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, for 2 days.

We are based in Mackinaw City Michigan right now.

It is right on the Straights of Mackinac and the start of the UP.

Yesterday we drove for hours, visiting the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and the Soo Locks (more on that another day).

The first evening we spent shooting the sunset at the Mackinac Bridge.

My Husband and I used our cell phones, but my son took out his professional gear and shot a time lapse.

We ended up spending over an hour shooting photos and had a nice time.

We had rain in the forcast, but managed to miss most of it. Win!

We hope to get over to Mackinac Island today.

Plugs, Prunes And Pillow

During the Pandemic I have been watching YouTube videos on different subjects.

One of them is a travel guy who lost the ability to travel by plane. So what does he do? Travel by train.

Thus, he is a total newbee on the train, but the one thing I learned from him were the three "P's".

They stand for Plugs, Prunes and Pillows.

I brought all three on my journey this time and was glad I did.

The one that worked the best...were the plugs.

We got a cord with different types of plugs. As you can see, we had different things plugged in at one time.

Very convenient and it stored easily on the train.

Highly recommended.

Walled Lake, MI

First off, Happy Birthday to my oldest nephew, Matt. He has reached 35 years of age. Go Matt Go.

My Water Post For Today.

Walled Lake is a glacier made natural lake in the Novi area.

It is spring fed and very large.

Being this photo was taken on the 4th of July, there were lots of boats on the lake.

People having picnics all around us and others swimming. It was quite a thing to see.

The geese didn't mind at all.

I hope you enjoy.

Happy 4th Of July

Happy 4th of July to America!

May it be better than last year's holiday.

We will be with my Son and hopefully fireworks will occur.

Walled Lake usually has a big show, so I am hopeful.

Congratulations America for making it another year.

May this Pandemic finally wind down.

Onward To Our Final Destination, Wixom

Today we leave Chicago and take the Wolverine to Ann Arbor, MI.

My Son will be picking us up and we will make the drive north, to Wixom.

This photo was from our last trip to Michigan, BTW.

Now onto the 4th of July and our travels up north.

Wish us luck.

Masking Is Still Important

We are still on the train, chugging our way to Topeka, Kansas.

I remember taking a photo of their Capitol, last time I passed through, but I can't find the photos of most of our journey. It might be on a different camera and it never got moved onto our desktop computer. Oh, well.

We have been informed that wearing a mask as you travel around the train is still required.

I personally think that is a good idea and will be wearing this one, in our travels.

I just put a new filter into it and will probably switch it out when I leave Michigan.

Riding Those Rails To Chicago

We left Los Angeles last night and as this posts, we should be around Flagstaff, AZ.

Albuquerque, NM later on today.

Here is the entire schedule. Hopefully we keep close to the time. If we do, we should have some extra time in Albuquerque. Last time it was an hour and a change of crew.

Our Route

Train #4 Southwest Chief

Departs Los Angeles, CA (LAX) - 6/30 6:00p

6:30p | 6:35p - Fullerton, CA (FUL)
7:16p | 7:18p - Riverside, CA (RIV)
7:38p | 7:44p - San Bernardino, CA (SNB)
8:52p | 8:55p - Victorville, CA (VRV)
9:48p | 9:51p - Barstow, CA (BAR)
12:16a | 12:18a - Needles, CA (NDL) 7/1
1:20a | 1:30a - Kingman, AZ (KNG)
4:19a | 4:25a - Flagstaff, AZ (FLG)
5:23a | 5:25a - Winslow, AZ (WLO)
8:05a | 8:11a - Gallup, NM (GLP)
11:20a | 11:48a - Albuquerque, NM (ABQ)
12:58p | 1:02p - Lamy, NM (LMY)
2:51p | 2:51p - Las Vegas, NM (LSV)
4:38p | 4:42p - Raton, NM (RAT)
5:39p | 5:41p - Trinidad, CO (TRI)
7:19p | 7:29p - La Junta, CO (LAJ)
8:21p | 8:23p - Lamar, CO (LMR)
10:48p | 10:50p - Garden City, KS (GCK)
11:41p | 11:47p - Dodge City, KS (DDG)
1:37a | 1:39a - Hutchinson, KS (HUT)
2:15a | 2:19a - Newton, KS (NEW)
4:37a | 4:40a - Topeka, KS (TOP)
5:07a | 5:09a - Lawrence, KS (LRC)
6:53a | 7:28a - Kansas City, MO (KCY)
9:31a | 9:33a - La Plata, MO (LAP)
10:49a | 10:49a - Fort Madison, IA (FMD)
11:48a | 11:48a - Galesburg, IL (GBB)
12:38p | 12:38p - Princeton, IL (PCT)
12:59p | 12:59p - Mendota, IL (MDT)
2:00p | 2:00p - Naperville, IL (NPV)
Arrives Chicago, IL (CHI) - 7/2 2:50p